So in a recent documentary by a Turkish film director, Fatih Akin, the new and upcoming genres of Turkish music are explored. From Kurdish cultural music to American style pop and rap, artists today in Turkey are pushing every boundary they can in order to expand the nation's culture. Don't get me wrong, Turkish culture actually doesn't need much expansion, however, we still have these young people exploring new things to do with their music.
For the first part of this series, I will talk about what Turkish music started out as in the beginning of the Turkish Republic. Continuing like the movie, I will add on further posts about other new types of music that are all around you when you stroll through the streets of Istanbul.
In the beginning, before the Republic was founded, most music consisted of traditional Ottoman classical music. This music had a specific melodic tone that could be identified very easily. Because of the ease of identification, many European artists in fact, took sections or melodies of the Ottoman music genre and applied it to their own creations. Such Europeans you may have heard of before - Mozart, Beethoven, and Chopin. As the 1920s quickly approached, Turkish music changed just as quickly. While still maintaining their folk roots, many Turks started a new trend in music towards more highly lyrical music that told of love, strife, and regret. Probably one of the best artists of her time and possibly right up there on the world charts with the Lebanese singer Fairouz, Sezen Aksu led the revolution in this post-revolutionary Turkish music overhaul.
Sezen Aksu's works were so great that even today, it is a tradition and known fact that every single Turk knows one Aksu song by heart in perfect pitch and harmony. Although, do not look for her songs if you are trying to cheer yourself up or trying to start a party in your room...She is more of the Turkish reflection on the past 30 years, their struggle to become a nation, and even more so, the struggle to figure out who they are...
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Your posts and presentations about music are so interesting that I'm definitely going to explore more. Thank you.